Building Blocks for Life

[tinyfixes-blog1]

10 Tidy Habits That Will Change Your Life

It's easy to think of all the good habits we wish we had. And, as it turns out, setting good habits can be a powerful way to achieve our goals, as well a...

[persp3ctivist]

The reason we like the tidy feelings of home is evolutionary ▶▶ link to original article

Is your house tidier than it used to be? If it is, then you have probably read Marie Kondo’s international bestselling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2011). Kondo’s book is ostensibly a manual for home improvement.

[strictlyminimal]

Priorities

There comes a point in which we must take the opportunities and the commitments we have and boil them down to the bare necessities. We often find ourselves in a situation of overwhelming tasks and connections. It is at this point in which we must weigh our priorities and only keep that in which we feel is best and the most meaningful. It is this process of simplicity that allows us the freedom to create better and larger things that push boundaries.

[disappearingquietly]

Somethings that I've realised

Recently I’ve been going crazy thinking if only I could control myself better, if only I could lose 20lbs and then I’ll be happy and fulfilled. But that’s not how this works and all I’m doing by striving for this unattainable ideal is really getting depressed and anxious and ill. I’ve been getting into minimalism and I’ve started decluttering my life, donating clothes and stuff, and I have so much stuff, and throwing away my toxic diaries, and I feel so much lighter and I’m feeling much happier in myself and I know this will take a while but I’m working towards a vegan, zero waste, minimalist lifestyle. At the moment I’m just starting out but meditating and yoga is really helping to control my fear, and I’m going to recapture my life and stop filling the voids in my life with mindless consumption and really start dealing with the issues I have that are holding me down. Anyway I hope everyone reading this finds a way to centre themselves and overcome the demons that are trying to sabotage them XO

[myrioll]

6 Things to Eliminate from Your Closet Right Now

Making a little extra space in your closet doesn't have to involve a lot of hand-wringing. In fact, maybe you should get rid of these six things right now.

[minimalismforless]

#19

I’ve been slowly paring down my Google Chrome bookmarks for two reasons

1. If i want to work on a different computer or my laptop suddenly dies on me, it would be so much easier if I didn’t have to recover all my bookmarks. 

2. When I want to find something I knew I had bookmarked, my filing system was so convoluted, I ended up Googling it and finding it that way. 

It’s taking a long time but it’s coming. On the plus side, I decluttered my two main email accounts and it is now ten times easier to sort through my emails because when I’m done reading, replying and deleting, I am left with an empty inbox because everything has been sorted into the relevant folders. One item off my to-do list! 

[minimalismforless]

#18

It's only when you're thinking about moving that you realise how many things you have. I've looked around my flat and I'm thinking 'what do I really need?' I'm planning to go on a long holiday abroad so I'll only be able to take what I can carry. Clothes, books, notebooks - all will have to be limited. This has reminded me how decluttering and minimalism are not only one-off events. You don't go through your things and all of a sudden, you're gifted with the ability to only buy/keep what you need. Things have built up for me and I think it is time to make an active effort to declutter again.

[minimalismforless]

#17

So my Lent resolution didn’t go so well, up until the last two weeks, unsurprisingly enough, when I was on holiday. 

Planning out my day hour by hour helped me not to waste my holiday. In fact, I felt more rested at the end of it and without half as much guilt. 

Then I went back to work and it sort of fell apart. Not by much, I’m doing Camp Nanowrimo and I’m ahead of my word count, but to try and do anything apart from writing is hard. 

I found this 52 week challenge and I’m going to jump in about 15 weeks late but still. Things are building up in my flat again and it’s time to organise them again. Especially my online junk. 

[minimalismforless]

#16

It's a month into the New Year and it's easy to give up on the brand new resolutions I made. It's also Lent (for all the Catholics) which I'd a chance to give up something/start something new. I wasn't prepared for Lent. I've made a resolution to be organised but judging by today, that isn't going so well. But there's always tomorrow and a chance to start over.

[minimalismforless]

#15

On my holiday from work, I didn't get as much work done as I wanted to but I did read 3 different books. I think I don't have time to read but when I stop mindlessly surfing the internet (and I mean mindlessly) I managed to do the reading and have as much time as I normally do (whether I used it wisely or not is another matter). It's a surprising benefit.

[minimalismforless]

#14

I think the important thing I want to get out of minimalism is peace. A peace to be able to do something like read a book without feeling guilty that I have several other things to get sorted first. I look on minimalism as organisation: of surroundings, of time and of mind itself. 

Hopefully I’ll be able to achieve that and not slip into bad habits like I have done these past couple of days. 

[minimalismforless]

#13

Sleep is my enemy at the moment. Switching between night and day shifts has messed up my sleep schedule a lot lately. Partly it’s my own fault because I refuse to go to bed at a sensible time. 

I’m a bit of an overachiever and I feel like I don’t have enough free time to do what I want. Of course I do, it’s more the fact I don’t use my free time wisely. Or I haven’t over the last week. This has a greater effect on my mood than I realised. 

I like the look of this spreadsheet though. A guidelines for the year and planning my priorities on paper. Sounds perfect. 

[minimalismforless]

#12

“A place for everything and everything in its place.” 

I’ve been trying to do that for my possessions. Reducing my things down so everything has a specific place to go. It’s going well. I barely lose things anymore (apart from those plastic post bags which would have been useful when I was trying to return a dress I bought) but now I’ve started to develop a specific place to do things. So I read in my bed, write at my table and go on my laptop in my chair. I’m trying to focus my mind so when I’m sitting at the table, I am handwriting whether it’s writing for this blog or in my journal and that’s all I do. 

Now I need to crack my TV in the background habit. 

[paleotool]

Let Go of the Things that Do Not Matter

Let Go of the Things that Do Not Matter

“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.” — Oscar Wilde I’m not one for New Year resolutions.  However, it is a time of reflection and I’m glad for the progress I have made in decluttering my life and prioritizing what truly matters over the past few years.  Maybe 2016 is the year for another person out there to step away from the frenzy of mindless consumption.  More…

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[minimalistic-maggie]

A mantra isn’t the right word for it. I’d like to call it more “oh yeah I say that all the time”-sentences.

Read and let me know if it isn’t so.

[minimalistic-maggie]

Good article from someone that describes finding her way in minimalism and simplifying.

[spey]

Pearls On and Hats Off to a New Year’s Resolution with Spey

The first of January is a time when many an introspective person pledges his or her New Year’s resolution. Ours? To live more simply and well.

What’s your New Year’s resolution?